Jatropha vs. Corn

The Wall Street Journal in their Friday the 24th issue had a special article on another possible source of biofuel: Jatropha. There's a similar, earlier written (and in my opinion a bit easier to read), BBC online article that can be found by clicking here. Let me sum the main points up: the jatropha plant is a weed that can grow in deserts; apparently even in one as unforgiving as Sonora. Even though its a bit unreliable as far as yields of oil (I think some good old selective adaptation should help that, just like it helped out steak), jatropha still seems to be a better alternative than say... I dunno... CORN. Finally it can be grown side by side with staple crops used as food. Since it is not a food crop (poisonous), farmers won't be making the trade off in the market of whether or not to sell their grains to biofuel or to food markets (meaning the predicted price increase in corn might not actually occur and people might actually be able to eat). Now I know the next question: what about a trade off in using land. Jatropha has been used in India as a liner crop around farms to keep pests out. It grows without disturbing the other crops. On top of that, you can grow Jatropha in more places than you can grow corn. WSJ has a nice little graph, but it shows the price of corn ethanol per barrel is $83. The price of Sugar Cane Ethanol (my personal favorite) is at a cool $45. The price of Jatropha per barrel? $43. Yeah. Half as much.

It can be grown in areas where corn can't be grown, for far longer. It's half the price. Best of all, it can be used to develop some areas in the Southwestern United States that could use a bit of an agricultural and manufacturing boost. And if the US doesn't want to take advantage of it, we can import it (probably at a cheaper price). God bless world trade.

But I'm going to be honest with myself. I would love to see the Southwestern States get a big boost, while at the same time sticking it to Midwestern corn farmers. There. I said it. This is for you, Midwestern Corn Farmer. Stop pushing your hippy-lies about efficient bio fuel when you know you just want to make money like all the rest of us. Hush up about ethanol, take your government subsidies, and continue to feed the world.
Love,
me.

It should be noted the WSJ got this info on Jatropha from a recent Goldman Sachs study. That's right. WSJ and Goldman Sachs. Helping my arguments against corn.

Barta, Patrick. "Jatropha Plant Gains Steam in Global Race for Biofuels." The Wall Street Journal. Friday, August 24, 2007. Vol. CCL No. 46. P1.

"We saw your name and number on the wall..."

So my friend/office-mate and I headed down to our Micro prof's large lecture today. We needed to be there in order to get some idea of what we should be teaching in the discussion next week, and also because he told us to be there. After situating ourselves in the back of the hall to avoid notice by the undergrads (and to better here those conversation gems that only come from large lecture classes), our prof. started out introducing the staff.
"Well everyone, not all the information was correct in the syllabus and things have changed since it was printed out, so write down these changes..." That made sense. The office had told me I was teaching a discussion group on Friday afternoon that didn't exist, so they switched me to a Tuesday morning discussion. Changes were abounding this semester.
And then he put the piece of paper under the projector, and in bold, large letters are my office mate's and my cell phone numbers, right next to our names. In fact, this was the paper that was only supposed to circulate among the TA's and the prof. so that if there was an emergency we could be reached. Now, our school has a bit of a stick up their collective rear ends about giving out private information, especially of their professor's and TA's. In fact when they weren't telling us to not date the undergrads at the general TA training seminars, they were telling us to value our privacy and our time; to never give out too much information to our students or else we could expect 2 AM phone calls on Sunday from stressed out undergrads.
Yet there was my cell phone number. In letters larger than my femur. Displayed in front of over 400 undergraduates, attempting to furiously locate and write down the number of their TA. You could tell who the TA's were in the audience at that point by our frantic hand gestures and waving to get his attention to take the paper off the projector. Finally, our head TA scrambled up to the podium and whispered in our professor's ear.
"Oh. It appears I've given out secret information. Hold on." Our prof then mercifully blacked out the phone numbers, and replaced the paper on the projector to show the e-mail information (which had changed for a few TA's and was open to the undergrads).
My friend and I had a nervous laugh about it, expecting the undergrads to the do the same. But the ones around us were actually angry. I even heard one guy two seats down from us say, "Geez, why won't they let us call the TA's if we need help?"
Alright. I have three office hours each week, I'm reachable by e-mail for appointments, and I practically live in the economics department from Monday to Friday. Excuse me if I don't want anyone disturbing my weekends by calling my personal phone number.
He clammed up pretty dang fast when the prof. had the TA's stand up to be recognized and my friend and I stood up. And waived.

I'm adding a small bit to my "syllabus" discussion tomorrow. If any undergrad got the number they'd better throw it away. Because I'm not helping anyone who calls that phone.

And yes, the title of this blog is a Tommy Tutone reference.

Heard around the hill.

Cable is finally here and I thought I would share something "heard on the hill" with you.

While shopping in Target the day the Schol-Halls opened up, cleaning supplies aisle:
Overzealous Mother: "Oh honey, maybe you should get the bigger bottle of Pine-Sol. You know how much of a mess you make in the toilet."
Pitiable Undergrad: "Moooooooom... you're embarrassing me in front of the grad student!"

I think it is funny to note that he was apparently talking about ME as I was the only other person in the aisle. My bitter look of life-long disappointment, unshaven chin, and lack of jorts gave me away.

Classes start tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to the first day of teaching for GTA's next week. This is going to be an interesting year.

Waiting...

Still waiting on getting cable (God bless the monopolistic telecommunications companies who get around to installing equipment whenever they feel like it).
Posts to come sometime after August 15th. So much fun.

To sum up:
Classes start soon. I have my schedule (more or less), and my apartment is pretty much set up. So we're getting there. Bit by bit.